Blumont: The new face of IRD

International Relief and Development will announce Wednesday an overhaul of its brand and structure in the wake of a yearslong dispute with its main client, the United States Agency for International Development over alleged financial irregularities. IRD’s new moniker, Blumont, will headline any bids on new projects after Jan. 26, when the firm plans to announce the shift to the public. Beyond a new label, IRD will also reveal its new structure and confirm rumors that the nonprofit will relocate its headquarters to Madison, Wisconsin. Structured around award type, Blumont will comprise three subsidiary organizations, one for contracts; another for grants and cooperative agreements; and a third for-profit entity. A source at IRD confirmed the impending announcement, and compared the new structure — seemingly novel for the development sector — to that of a not-for-profit hospital system. He added the new structure will feature greater monitoring capacity, with an operating system that “will make transparency a moot point, because awards will be monitored in real-time.” The source also explained that while Blumont will eventually subsume all of IRD’s operations and staff, IRD will continue implementing all current awards, operating alongside Blumont “as a sister entity.” Once IRD’s contracts run out, the source said, Blumont will pursue any new bids and extensions in its place. Staff in IRD’s headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia, however, won’t be obliged to move to the Midwest under the new structure. Instead, some operations of Blumont will continue to function out of IRD’s current offices, with some staff, like Roger Erwin, the current president of IRD and future president of Blumont, commuting between locations. “Though if staff for some reason want to be moved to Madison, we’ll certainly consider that,” the source said. For country offices and projects in the field, where IRD prides itself on its strong relationship with stakeholders and host governments, the source said IRD will make sure all partners understand there won’t be any compromise in quality of delivery, and that the new name and structure “won’t confuse the legacy of implementation, especially important for our projects related to [internally displaced persons] and refugees.” After USAID suspended IRD in February 2015, the nonprofit sued the aid agency, arguing the suspension was largely a result of negative press coverage. IRD commissioned its own independent audit which alleged that 98 percent of expenditures USAID deemed “irregular” were in fact allowable costs. Asked whether the organization’s leadership hopes the rebrand will help put its eight-month suspension by USAID — which was deemed illegal and lifted by court order last July — firmly in the past, the source said the negative attention certainly had a hand in the decision. While the courts found that USAID acted illegally, and required the agency to remove potentially damaging mention of IRD’s suspension from the administrative record and issue corrections, damage to the brand had already been done. “There’s no doubt that the negative press coverage [and] the suspension [have] damaged the brand, with a focus on perceived mismanagement by headquarters,” he said. “So we’re taking this step to align our public appearance to what’s happening internally at the organization.” At the same time, the ultimate aim of the new name and structure is to “benefit everyone, including [USAID],” he said. “It makes sense, but it requires us to explain it carefully.” Read more international development news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive the latest from the world’s leading donors and decision-makers — emailed to you FREE every business day.